This invention relates to front- and rear-end compartments for motor vehicles arranged to absorb kinetic energy in a collision.
In a preferred application of the invention, an end compartment of a motor vehicle constitutes the engine compartment of the vehicle, accommodating other operating equipment besides the engine, for example, a battery, a control unit, a main brake cylinder with a brake power-assist unit and other accessories. The invention is also applicable to vehicle end compartments containing operating equipment other than the engine which, like the operating equipment in the engine compartment, substantially fills the compartment in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
If deformation members are provided for kinetic energy conversion in the case of a collision, such a closely-packed arrangement of operating equipment in a related end compartment limits the deformation displacement of the deformation members so that they cannot be completely utilized for energy conversion because the operating equipment will pile up. As a result, the occupants will be subjected to dangerously high decelerations.